E-mail from Debbie Yow About Officials

I am writing this response today to a group of special Wolfpackers who are passionate about the ‘Pack and who have contacted me.

Many of you have voiced a feeling of distrust for the fairness and impartiality of officiating as related to State basketball.

I wanted to share with you a few updates of our communications with the ACC office, since that is the single most often voiced question.

1. The Commissioner and I most recently met at the ACC Tournament in Atlanta. Before the Tournament, we talked by phone.

2. Regarding the ejection of two former players at the RBC and the initials of that official being on the shoes of officials throughout the opening game of the ACC Tournament, the Commissioner has heard clearly my concerns regarding these matters. As you know, the official was reprimanded and the Commissioner indicated that neither he nor the ACC director of officials was aware that having the initials on the shoes was going to happen.

3. We have begun addressing the widely held view of officiating inconsistencies in the UNC game and will work with Coach Gottfried on that, once we get to a place where we have the ability to focus on it. Right now, we are preparing the film of missed calls/no calls to send to the Director of Officiating at the ACC for his review and feedback.

4. Coach Gottfried has no recollection of being cursed at by an official during the heat of the tournament game. I understand that two media sources tweeted that this occurred and I know the quote they attributed to the official. We will follow up with each media person to seek further details and then share all of that information with the ACC.

5. I have also addressed other issues with the conference such as the bb gun statement made by an opposing coach and the quote regarding how ACC officials “study team tendencies”, something that was disconcerting to a number of fans and to us.

I know you care deeply about your Wolfpack and want you to know that we are expressing our concerns. That is why I wanted to take time to share more detail with you today.

I am so pleased that through adversity we have played our way back into the NCAA Tournament where we belong. I am also proud of our dedicated fan base that is made up of terrific Wolfpackers like you.

Yes. Thank you for your concern. You have contributed so much to this conversation concerning a rational response to athletic event. Had NC State won, this may not be such a big issue, but still an issue that needs to be addressed.

We aren’t pissed off that we lost, friend….at the very least, we are quite used to losing and waste no energy being upset about it. The entire tournament was poorly officiated, in my opinion, and that includes the Carolina and Duke games. I am proud of my team and all that they have accomplished this year, and I simply think they deserve to be able to play the game without worrying that the refs aren’t being fair. This should be an issue every ACC team is concerned about. Thank you, AD Debbie Yow for not letting this one drop!

I assume you’re being facetious ? Can you show less class than whining about the officials. And on top of that sending an email to the minions. “Blah, Blah, Blah. I’m a little baby, and the refs screwed us. Why us? It’s always us. The Maryland basketball coach is probably sabotaging us.” Whine, whine, whine. She fits perfectly with NCSU fans.

I applaud AD Yow’s efforts to keep the officiating fair and to vigorously complain not about the calls but about the attitude, the professionalism and the perceived bias in the league. The decision to support Hess visibly on the uniform of ACC officials was unprofessional, disrespectful and showed al fundamental misunderstanding about the role of college officials in the game of basketball. The goal of officiating should be to call the game fairly, for both sides and to be as unobtrusive as possible. The referee shoe initials incident is a microcosm of the officials mistaken view that they are visible, a factor in the game and a “team” like the competitors. This couldn’t be further from the actual reality of the proper role of officials. They are there to keep the game fair and enforce the rules and fouls equally. Basketball, like all contact sports requires subjective officiating decisions, but those decisions should be made without regard to the color uniform or the name on the building of the venue. That has not happened in the ACC for a long while.

Of course “Carolina Fan” doesn’t think there is an issue…….Would you if you were on the receiving end of most questionable calls/no-calls for the last 30-40 yrs?……They make a mockery of all other fans objections because we are about to upset their applecart. I don’t believe in “black helicopters”, but when you now have local AND national media taking notice of the obvious bias and making it an issue, Carolina and Duke fans know the end is coming. When Pitt and Syracuse come, it will become more and more difficult to keep things at status quo for them. A foul is a foul, a travel is a travel, a charge is a charge, a block is a block, …..regardless of which team or player commits them. It’s like the days when Greg Maddox used to get about 12-18 inches off the plate because the catcher set up there. It’s still a ball and if the umps had any themselves, they would’ve made Maddox pitch to the legal strike zone. It’s in the rule book for a reason. Either call it for all or call it for none.. The timing of calls also plays a crucial role. If you call it loose in the first half, then by God call it loose in the second half. In reality, consistency is the only thing most teams/fans want out of officiating, regardless of the sport.

Thanks Debbie. Our new coach is awesome, we are recruiting at a much higher level and the refs are indeed showing a bias. Initials on their shoes? Are you kidding? Why are they hanging on to this relatively trivial incident into the tournament?

For one thing, there were calls missed on both sides of the court (UNC and NCSU) as a matter of fact I have noticed this a great deal in the ACC. I don’t like the officiating that I have seen across ALL ACC games. The officiating as of late has been PITIFUL and definitely needs to be looked into because it is hurting the ACC as an overall conference that holds high standards to the game! And yes, this is coming from a UNC fan. It doesn’t matter who you pull for, I am glad that an AD is having this investigated because this will better the ACC AS A WHOLE!!!